Endings

The final chapter of Part II explores the nature of Confederate surrender. While Union political and military leaders insisted that Confederates unconditionally end the rebellion, dismantle their government, dissolve their armies, and consent to emancipation, the Union also maintained policies in accordance with Lincoln’s pledge in his Second Inaugural Address of “malice toward none.” This chapter thus probes a controversial question about the end of the American Civil War: should the United States have extended far greater punishment to Confederates to avoid the forthcoming horrific white southern counterrevolution against Reconstruction? While some did, many loyal citizens believed that excessive retribution violated the purpose of waging a war for Union, emancipation, and the preservation of self-government. With the slaveholding class destroyed and seemingly no longer a threat to national accord, future rebellions against federal authority seemed unlikely. Former Confederates realigning in the nation alongside formerly enslaved people, according to myriad white loyal citizens, contrasted the Union’s peaceful, moral restraint to a world governed by state-sponsored reprisals.